A Perfect Tie
by Rose-Wisteria
Summary: Zelos believed he and Sheena had one of the worst relationships possible. They have nothing in common. They fight a lot. Yet the leaves will never fall and the music will never end. That was the perfect relationship. Sheelos, oneshot, to Strawberry


**Note to Readers: **Is it for real? Is it really happening? Is Minnie actually going to write lighthearted romance instead of angst? I'm surprised at what I wrote too. It seemed nowadays I kept having more happy thoughts and why not writing some of it down? Who writes a sad, angst fic for an anniversary anyway? Oh yeah. I do. Last note, I left out Sheena and Zelos's ages on purpose to leave the mystery of it all. Yes, I'm a cruel little girl.

**Summary: **Zelos believed he and Sheena had one of the worst relationships possible. They have nothing in common. They have different tastes. They fight a lot. Yet the leaves will never fall and the music will never end. That was the perfect relationship. (Sheelos, one-shot)

**  
Dedication: **StrawberryEggs! She had probably reviewed all Sheelos fics out there so I wrote this fic in recognition of her one-year anniversary at this website (although it is terribly late now). Coincidentally, my two-year anniversary is on the same day.

* * *

_**Nothing is more beautiful than the love that has weathered the storms of life. The love of the young for the young, that is the beginning of life. But the love of the old for the old, that is the beginning of things longer.**_

_**-Jerome K. Jerome**_

**_A Perfect Tie_**

_**By Rose-Wisteria**_

The successor of Mizuho sat idly by the window and watched the walking citizens of Meltokio passed by with their usual tasks at hand. There was something about today that seemed to be so mellow, so cool and calming. She didn't know how to explain it but it was one of those days in which she felt that walking through the capital city of Tethe'alla, the bridge, and the Gaoracchia Forest was boring and tiring. She didn't even want to think about the distance.

Nevertheless Sheena Fujibayashi felt a bit restless to be sitting by the window of a shop while her people were working in the fields or evenbetter, honing their skills as ninjas. The fact of the matter was she had spent a full week walking all the way over to Meltokio and hated to leave without any decent apology from a certain someone. Better yet, a reason why she was even here in the first place.

Why was she here in the first place?

The ninja could only throw a dirty glance back at the interior of the shop where no one was particular paying attention to her. She didn't know why she did it. All she knew was that _he _would feel that intense glare creating a hole through his back without having to make eye contact. Most people would find it weird, she thought. Wait, even _she_ found it weird. Somehow though, this was the type of exchange she was so used to when dealing with him.

Most people would say they have an awkward relationship. Actually, the Mizuho native sighed, mostpeople would say they have no relationship whatsoever. His hunnies or groupies hated her. The King, even though he was slowly accepting her, probably talked about her people behind her back. The people of Meltokio possibly saw her as a foreigner, not worthy of their eyes.

Lloyd probably didn't notice their relationship, although he was always the one who stopped them from bickering at each other all the time. Countless times, she could remember the young swordsman standing in between the two of them and say, "Okay, that's enough you two." Now, that she looked back at those times, they amused her greatly.

Surprisingly, she had already endured three and a half hours with him shopping for various perfumes, hair accessories, shoes, and various other luxuries any woman in Meltokio would want. Of course, the violet-haired woman remembered with a grin, she threatened to send him to hell if he dared come an inch closer to the women undergarments. That was where she drew the line. Still, shopping with the former Chosen wasn't _too _bad. He didn't try anything _that_lecherous, yet she expected it every minute of the way.

Truly, the summoner wondered to herself, if the former Chosen wanted to buy all these clothes for one of his hunnies, why didn't he pick one of his other hunnies to help him select? This question puzzled her. Chewing on this product which the redhead called "gum", Sheena pondered some more on his motives. His excuse for making her come along with him on this shopping spree was that his hunnies would be jealous if he chose one of them over the other, and that he could not make use of their expert opinion. Then, he went on and on about how her opinion was also valuable in his books.

"Any hunny who can look _that _good with a simple purple and black getup is bound to be a fashion queen." His exact quote!

What did that idiot know about fashion anyway? The dark-haired woman continued to ask herself. Then, she answered her own question: Everything. So far, during this whole shopping spree, she had been the useless one, not that idiotic male. He was the one who observed at her while she tried on shoes, shirts, and other materials while he commented the clash of color, the simplicity of the overall designs, the need of more fabric, and many other knowledgeable facts in woman clothing that possibly no other man could compete with. In other words, Zelos Wilder was a complete expert in women's fashion. That sucked for women like she, who had no clue whatsoever and were only dragged around to try on everything.

"Besides," Sheena Fujibayashi said, deciding to play with his words, "Any man who can look _that_ good in a pink vest and white baggy pants is bound to be a fashion king."

"Why thank you, my voluptuous hunny," A voice from behind her reached her ears, and she jumped almost ten feet in the air. "Thinking of me again?" He flashed her a smile and winked with the most adorable look on his face.

"Not in a million years," Sheena returned but with a ghost of a smile on her lips. "Are we done yet? I'm sick and tired of waiting around for you to pay for everything."

"At least I'm paying!" Zelos said with a hurt expression on his face. However, that expression vanished in an instant as a grin spread on his face. "You like autumn hmmm?"

"Yeah. That was really random." Sheena said and cocked a brow. "What is it exactly do you want? Everything has been out of place and I can't sense a common motive in everything you say either."

"Curious… curious…" Zelos rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You actually want to know what I'm thinking?" The former Chosen asked almost incredulously.

Sheena rolled her eyes and glared intensely at the redhead. "Don't push it buddy. I'm in a very wearymood right now so you shouldn't be provoking me." That almost sound like another threat to Zelos. For someone like him, he almost had gotten used to it.

"Oh right… the whole monthly cycle you females go through…" Zelos knew the minute he said something like that he had went too far and immediately ducked at an upcoming attack. At least, Zelos thought, Sheena was being nice in only throwing a boot at him. The last time she threw something at him, it was something much larger. "Oh come on now, you're still shy about that? Goddess knows everyone know**s** about it!"

The Mizuho native glanced at a young boy who was standing nearby with round eyes and a dropped jaw. At that moment, the boy had totally forgotten about the ice cream that melting on top of his cone. The boy didn't understand what Zelos said yet but then he timidly tugged his mother's skirt and asked innocently, "Mother… that man over there said something about girls going through a monthly cycle thingy… What is that?"

The summoner gritted her teeth and pulled the former Chosen's ear right out the door. Nowhere was safe with Zelos around. That man was seriously doomed with children. She could imagine it now… years from now… Zelos would pull his son into a room and finally have that "father to son" chat when the boy was only five. In this mental image, she saw a boy on top of a bed with his father with the most twisted expression on his face. A few years from then, she could almost see Zelos's son in front of a psychologist, talking about his horrible childhood memories because of his father. Sheena shivered.

Ignoring Zelos's complaints about misusing the famous Chosen's ear, Sheena finally released her prisoner when they were safely outdoors away from any children. The ninja made a personal reminder to talk to Zelos's future wife about her husband's carelessness around innocent ears. That man really should not have children at all… period. One Zelos was enough. A whole bunch of mini-Zeloses would drive her nuts.

"Zelos!" Sheena said very sternly to get his attention away from his ear. "You listen to me and you listen to me very carefully." Roughly, she grabbed a hold of his shirt and pulled him toward her so his direct attention was on her alone. "Why are you dragging me around from department store to department store to buy these… gifts?"

"I told you an answer didn't I?" Zelos asked innocently.

"That was not an answer!" Sheena said harshly as people passing by stopped to watch. "You said you needed my expertise in fashion, but so far, I've had very little input in anything we've chosen! You ask me which one I like, then you make me wear it, then you give your own criticism on its looks. Now tell me the real reason or else I'll claw it out of you!"

"Harsh Sheena hunny," Zelos retreated a few steps back. "Did I forget to mention that the person I'm buying the gift for has the exact same measurements as you?"

Sheena's glare intensified tenfold. "You dragged me through five department stores, one restaurant, over twenty different dressing rooms, two shoe stores, one park, and three accessory stores… yet you forget to mention that important detail?"

"Yes?" Zelos answered back, almost too intimidated to reply. He was really afraid she was going to blow any minute now.

"Zelos!" That exclamation came out more as an exaggerated whine more than an outburst. Sheena moved quickly to a shady area and sat down with a heavy sigh. "Zelos… I'm really getting tired of this… you're not sixteen anymore… can't you act more your age?"

"What do you mean?" Zelos asked as he joined her.

"Can't you act more responsibly for once?" Sheena felt her voice almost pleading.

"I guess…" Zelos said in a confused tone. "But why would I want to act all boring and stuff? Do you actually like boring people following you around all day without any valuable opinion of their own? You want me to be all Orochi-like?"

"Well I guess not…" Sheena said with some truth in her voice. Sometimes, she did want to grab the blue-garbed ninja, shake him, and tell him to have a mind of his own already. "Still… can you at least be a bit more responsible? Am I asking way too much?"

The redhead thought for a minute. "Fine! But in Zelos language, responsibility means no fun."

"No," Sheena corrected, "Responsibility means drawing a line to when fun goes way out of hand. Do you understand now, almighty Chosen one?"

Zelos allowed a sigh to escape him. "Gosh Sheena, you and your… rules."

"Someone has to set you straight." Sheena snapped and lifted a fine nose at him. "Now, if we can hurry up and finish… I want my dinner soon."

"I'm paying again, I assume?" Zelos said with a bit of a smirk on his face.

"Whose the one who started gloating about a bottomless treasury?" Sheena asked with some amusement in her tone.

"That would be I." Zelos tried to act ignorant at Sheena's obvious point.

"Then you pay!" Sheena said as she lifted her weary body up and started walking down the street. "This shopping had better end soon or I'll eat you instead."

"That's not a very good mental picture…"

* * *

After that the Mizuho lass and her faithful follower walked down the street of Meltokio. It was late in the afternoonand the sun played hide and seek with the moon behind pink fluffy clouds. The day was moving slowly by for those who sat and drank coffee all alone. The streets were starting to empty with old people and fill up with young people. Advertising men began to appear out of nowhere and persuade passersby to buy their products. The sight of a young couple passing by hand in hand unnerved the dark-haired woman, but for reasons unknown. Unconsciously, she glanced up at the now quiet loudmouth who seemed to be paying attention to something elsewhere. The Mizuho native directed her attention to where he was staring at, only to see another young couple smooching on a bench. Reddening, she averted her gaze somewhere other than there. She felt embarrassed for some reason.

Suddenly she noticed a band of musicians playing by the streets with their golden instruments and serious expressions. A lead player was enthusiastically holding a giant horn and blowing into it like his life depended on it. The music sounded terrible at first but then slowly, as she came closer to the musicians, they started playing more lighter and romantic music. Again, for no apparent reason, she turned to Zelos, who again had his attention elsewhere. Now, he was watching leaves falling from the trees. The fragile object swayed **in **the wind right to left and left to right until it landed straight on top of his head. The former Chosen flicked it from its perchquickly before he spotted the shop he was searching for. Then, he grabbed Sheena's hand roughly and dragged her inside.

This shop, unlike the other ones, seemed pretty private and small. There weren't any other customers inside. Monitoring her surroundings, Sheena's eyes widened to see rows and rows of dresses lined up on every end of the shop. Golden gowns, black gowns, white gowns, velvet gowns, silky gowns, gowns with hearts woven on the side, gowns with laces on the bottom, and every other color and type of gowns imaginable. There were fabric, buttons, strings, needles, and other accessories lying around on the table in the center. When curiosity conquered the better half of her, Sheena read one of the tag labels on the dress and found the price outrageous. Retreating a step away from the hot pink dress, Sheena turned to walk out the door when Zelos caught a hold of her bow and pulled her back in.

"Where do you think you're going, hunny?" Zelos asked as if he was the mother and Sheena was the son in a shopping situation.

"Outside." Sheena said as she opened the door.

"Oh no you don't." Zelos yanked Sheena's bow a bit too hard as her outer clothing started to fall apart as she rushed to close the door and retreat safely inside. The redhead almost laughed at her adorable actions before he called for a woman name Sophie to come and examine Sheena. "Don't move my lovely hunny… Sophie will only take a second…"

"What are you doing?" Sheena demanded to know. The woman who was now measuring her right arm simply chose to ignore her. "Zelos! You tell her to stop now!"

The fiery-haired male shrugged and said casually, "Let her do her job, hunny pie."

"Oh, you're going to pay for this!" Sheena threatened with indignation in her eyes. Zelos knew how much she hated being touched… especially by strangers And yet, he was standing there watching her being tortured like this.

"Yeah, a lot of gald all right." Zelos nodded and acted as if his respond was the right one for her type of threat. All he received in response was one of Sheena's deadliest glares.

Lazily, he collapsed in a nearby chair and read through a catalog of different dress styles while he tried to ignore Sheena's "eeks" and "acks" with a smile on his face. Sitting more comfortably in his chair, Zelos tried to pick which designs he liked the best and waited for Sophie's finishing measurements. At last, the noises stopped completelyand he peeked over his book to see Sheena glaring at him with her arms across her chest.

Sophie rushed over to the red-haired noble. "Master Zelos… I finished measuring her. May we proceed to the dressing room and choose dresses already?"

"Let's." Zelos said quickly before he added, "Oh and make a copy of all Miss Fujibayashi's measurements for my future uses."

Sheena's eyes widened. "Zelos!"

"Yes, Master Zelos," Sophie answered and dashed to the inner dressing rooms to leave the two to deal with each other.

"Zelos!" Sheena repeated her exclamation. She wanted a response… now!

"What do you expect?" Zelos asked, almost disbelievingly. "A chance in a lifetime opportunity ruined? Give me some credit!"

"Credit for what?" Sheena said in a long exasperated sigh. "Never mind. I don't want to know. I'm too tired for this."

"My poor Sheena…" Zelos reached over and rubbed a hand smoothly over Sheena's silky dark hair with a pitied expression on his face. "You must be really losing your touch."

"I'm too old for this…"

The Mizuho native was conscious enough to know what Zelos was doing as she took a hold of his hand and placed it back down to the side of him. She yawned and collapsed in the same chair Zelos was in before. The sparkling light from some of the gowns was really getting to her so she decided to rest her eyes for a minute. Too much racket… too much colors… too much everything… Then, as she drifted to sleep, she suddenly jolted up when she heard the orchestral music still playing outside. Staring out another window this time, she saw young couples walking through the streets as the music played for them. The leaves were falling elegantly past their faces which were only turned toward each other. The smiles that expressed so well on their young faces made her feel content for some reason. The innocence of not knowing much, yet knowing everything that they need to know about each other.

Zelos and she used to be like that. Young love. Nothing seemed more beautiful and innocent than that. The music seemed to never end and the leaves seemed to never fall. Love seemed to be intoxicating and for those who were addicted, they keep coming back for more. A passion for a young heart and warmth for a young body- that was how it was for them. The melodies continued on and on, forever more. The more the young people dug themselves into a hole, the harder it was to climb back out. However, they did not know it yet. They only saw what was in front of them- the lover's face.

Love was like that single day before winter. Nature allowed the seasons one day of warm sunlight and pleasant breeze before the harshness of winter storm. Everything was perfect and it felt like it was never going to end. Before winter, nature permitted people with this pleasant day. In a love relationship, that happened too. The sunlight of leftover summer and the breeze of leftover autumn were like those first happy moments in a relationship when your partner seemed to be nothing less of a perfect being. But after that, like winter, everything went wrong. Couples started to argue over the smallest things and exploded at the tiniest jealousy. Then, that relationship didn't seem easy and simple anymore. It became complicated and painful. Nothing seemed to work anymore and everything tumbled down. No matter how long that tree had grown… for years and years… it must tumble down.

Love… didn't seem like a fairy tale where boy meets girl and girl meets boy and they live happily ever after. Love didn't seem so happy anymore. Love became something else.

Without knowing it, Sheena soon realized Zelos and Sophie somehow dragged her into the dressing room where Zelos had already chosen a few of the dresses he liked and juxtaposed them side by side for the summoner to see. The dark-haired woman licked her dry lips and offered her opinion on the ones she liked best. Often, she chose the darker shades of color and the simpler designs. The redhead next to her nodded in agreement. At least, she thought inwardly, she had some input this time.

While Sophie started undressing Sheena's outer garments and helping her into one of her favorite dresses Zelos had chosen, the ninja couldn't help but gazed at Zelos, who for once was paying attention to her instead of elsewhere. For some reason, she felt like she should say something. There was no gum in her mouth anymore to occupy her. Her throat was dry, however, and she did not know what to talk about.

The former Chosen carefully inspected the rest of the dresses he had chosen until he couldn't help but glanced back at Sheena, who was still gazing at him. There was something about her that suddenly seemed different. His conscience was somehow disturbed by her lack of speech. She may scream, hit, slap, kick, attack, throw, or inflict any kind of injury on him but he could not bear any more minutes with her staring at him like that.

"Are you still angry at me?" Zelos asked out loud, breaking the silence.

"For what?" Sheena asked softly.

"I don't know! I must have done something wrong to receive this sort of treatment." Zelos said, fidgeting with the fabric in his hands.

"I'm happy we have this type of relationship." Sheena said suddenly. Her eyes were still gazing intently into his blue ones.

"Sheena… are you okay?" Zelos raised a hand to her forehead to check but found no sign of a fever. Those eyes were still creeping him out though. He had seen them angry, sad, and happy but never like this. "We have one of the worst relationships. We fight and argue over nothing! We have nothing in common… we don't like the same food… the same color…" Zelos tried to stop but the more nervous he was, the more he talked. Sheena was scaring him. He must have done something wrong. "Actually, we don't have the same favorites of anything! I'm still bothered about what kind of relationship we have here!"

"Yet that is the perfect relationship." Sheena said in calm voice as she continued to stand there like a statue for Sophie to continue dressing her. "A cat and mouse relationship is the best relationship."

"Cat and mouse? That sounds so… childlike." Zelos said confused.

Sheena smiled softly. "That's exactly the relationship we have. Don't you remember when we were younger and still in love?"

Zelos thought for a few seconds before something finally clicked inside him. The young couples walking outside the window! The romantic music! The romantic setting! Why didn't he think of that? Didn't they use to share walks like that all the time before the whole saving the world part of their lives? When the answer dawned upon him, Zelos finally gazed back at Sheena with a renewed fire inside him.

"I guess… I was like the cat… always chasing you…" Zelos mumbled his thoughtsout loud. "And I guess… you were like the mouse… the one being chased but never caught. I don't understand how that's the perfect relationship though."

"For someone who claims he's so intelligent,he should figure this out in no time. I have a brain of an amoeba remember?" Sheena said with some amusement in her voice.

"I give up." Zelos sighed in defeat. "The sexy and intelligent Zelos Wilder has fallen…"

"There was no ending to our relationship… you chased and never caught me… we never endured the harder stages of love and therefore, the memories of young love still boil deeply, yet hidden somewhere inside us. It leaves us good memories." Sheena said. "The music had never ended and the leaves had never fallen so the innocence of love never ended. And our cat and mouse chase will never end."

"But Sheena," Zelos answered in a serious tone. "It never ended because it never started."

"That's the perfect relationship. Isn't it much more fun to fight now than if we are in a serious relationship?" Sheena asked solemnly. "Don't you rather have happy memories with me when we were young than unhappy memories with me as we grow older and more serious?"

"But Sheena," Zelos pleaded again. This time he leaned forward to get his message across. "I thought you were not going to run away anymore."

"I…"

"You don't want to enter a more serious relationship because you're afraid we would lose our happy and playful relationship we have now. If that's not running away, I don't know what is." Zelos said in a tone that almost sounded like he was stating facts.

"But you said you don't want to have responsibility." Sheena found another corner in this maze they were in.

"I'll learn." Zelos said solemnly. There was no joking tone in his voice anymore. "I don't want to give up before I even try. How do we know it's not going to work out if we don'ttry? Why can't we give it a chance?"

"Knowing us… we'll probably have lots of snowstorms ahead of us…" Sheena said miserably. "Our winter is going to be a long one… probably longer than anyone else."

"I don't care." Zelos returned her word for word. "I'm sick of this cat and mouse relationship."

Her blurry vision took over. "So what do you want?"

"I want a permanent one. A tied bond."

"I… would like that too." Tears almost dripped from her dark eyes.

Sophie, who had heard the entire conversation, wiped the tears from her eyes before she walked into her room to take out a couple of dresses Zelos ordered from the catalog. If only Miss Sheena knew that Zelos had planned a week for this shopping spree to buy her new clothes and accessories, Sophie thought with a smile on her glossy lip.

The Mizuho woman walked out of the dressing room and admired herself in the mirror. This first dress was of a simple silk of crimson hue with laces on the bottom and about the sleeves. Usually, the summoner detested dresses in general but somehow this one just seemed right. There was something magical about this dress. It probably wasn't the dress. Sheena whirled around in playfulness and glanced back at him from the mirror. And there, on her ruby lips, a smile slowly started to form. A very timid, almost secret smile. It wasn't the dressIt was the person who chose it.

There was only one thing out of place now. The redhead walked a little closer and caught her shoulders with a comforting handfor a second before bending down behind her.Seizing two red strings from her dress, Zelos smiled gently as he tied them carefully together into a perfect ribbon.

**Ending Notes: **Wow… happy endings… light romance… is out of my expertise. I'm reading through everything I wrote so far and I don't understand why I wrote something like this. There was not really a plot, that's one. There was no action, that's two. There was no heartbreak or tears, that's three. There was no dramatic, sad ending, that's four. Oh well, a bit out of the ordinary but I hope you guys like it anyway. A bit weak in my writing style for the most part but I can live with it. Don't worry though! I already have a couple of angst one-shots in the works. Oh, and thank you ArissaMay for editing this one-shot for me! Thank you everyone else, Minnie loves you all, and **R & R.**

**Last Note to Brother: **Who says I can't pull off different kinds of relationships from the same couple over and over again? As long as you take the relationship into multi-prospective, you can make any old pairing fresh again! No Sheelos relationship is used twice in my books.


End file.
